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A Tip for Finding Cheaper Hotel Rates
Have you tried this tip for finding cheaper hotel rates? Photo: Kevin Dooley/Flickr We recently heard an interesting hotel hack from a reader, about how to find cheaper rates: Sometimes if you make two separate back-to-back reservations, it’ll turn out cheaper than if you book one. Here’s what our reader Jerry Huller had to say:
I subscribe to Wendy’s newsletter and want to pass on a travel tip: If staying at a hotel over a long weekend, consider pricing individual nights to see if you can get a cheaper rate.
My wife and I are planning to stay at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek in Santa Rosa, CA, in April. On the hotel website, I priced a three-night stay arriving on a Friday and leaving on a Monday. The price was $252.10 per night (for a View King room with the AAA rate). Then I decided to price just the Sunday night and found a price of $234.10 per night for the same type of room. Then I went back and priced just the Friday night and Saturday nights, and got the cheaper rate of $234.10 per night. Then I went back and priced all three nights and again got the higher rate of $252.10 per night.
It’s cheaper to make two back-to-back reservations than one three-night reservation.
Have you ever tried this? Let us know if it worked, and share your own hotel tips below.
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I’ve been pricing hotels like this for years. Started out with cash & points combo, then noticed that the cash rates were often less “per night”, so now I check rates every which way. You can often save enough for a nice dinner.
Regarding Back to Back rooms…the only issue is…sometimes they have rooms earmarked (or so they say) depending on the room and they make you change… believe it or not… not sure why… but I had to beg at one hotel to keep the same room…
Yes, I have done the back-to-back reservations trick before. It can leave the front desk staff a bit befuddled as you are asking to stay in the same room for the second reservation; sometimes that room has been promised to someone else and it becomes necessary to change rooms. I have also gone to the more extreme task of actually checking out and returning a few hours later to check in again. I’ve done so because there is a bonus on with the hotel chain based on the number of “stays.” That way I get credit for two stays rather than one. I only do that if I am traveling without a companion.
If you book a room this way, separate reservations, you should mention this when you check in. In some instances, especially at smaller properties, the rates are based on inventory and even though it is the same room category, the room itself may not be the same. You might have to check out and back in for the new reservation.
Yes, I booked my reservation at Seoul Park Hyatt using their internal rates and Amex Platinum rates. Each day was a separate reservation depending on which rate was better. I also directly contacted the hotel front desk to see if I could avoid changing rooms. They kindly accommodated me.